‘She is remorseless’: ‘Black Widow’ should be jailed for life, former son-in-law says

‘Black Widow’ should be jailed for life, former son-in-law says

At his office in Wakefield, Mass., on the edge of greater Boston, Dennis Friedrich set up his computer to notify him when any online articles are published about Melissa Shepard, the 78-year-old Nova Scotian known as the “Black Widow” — and his former stepmother.

On Tuesday, he got an alert: Shepard was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for drugging her current husband, Fred Weeks.

The Weeks case, which played out in a Nova Scotia court this week, seemed all too familiar to Mr. Friedrich, who has been tracking the woman since his father’s mysterious death in 2002.

Shepard pleaded guilty to charges of administering a noxious thing and failure to provide necessities of life to her latest husband. Court documents show that Shepard introduced herself to Mr. Weeks in the fall of 2012.

She had been his neighbour in a quiet retirement community outside New Glasgow, N.S. According to a statement of facts submitted to the court, she told Mr. Weeks she was lonely and she had heard that he, too, was lonely. Within a month, the pair was married in Mr. Week’s living room. It was her fourth marriage.

Somewhere en route to the couple’s Newfoundland honeymoon, Shepard dissolved a cocktail of sedatives into her new husband’s coffee. When it was time to leave the Newfoundland ferry, Mr. Weeks needed to be wheeled out to his car.

Delirious, Mr. Weeks put the car in reverse, instead of drive, and almost hit a woman. The statement of facts says Mr. Weeks was hospitalized while his wife sat in a rented room, jotting down a list on the hotel stationery with words like “power of attorney” and “will.”

“She is remorseless and she’s demonstrated that over the years,” Mr. Friedrich said from Massachusetts after Tuesday’s sentencing.

“Three and a half years with credit for time served is not enough … She should be incarcerated for life.”

Since the death of his father, Robert, Mr. Friedrich has done extensive research on Shepard — who is known to use several aliases, including the Friedrich surname.

Shepard was convicted of manslaughter in the death of a husband, Gordon Stewart, in 1992, reportedly slipping him tranquilizers before running him over with a car. The woman said Mr. Stewart sexually assaulted her, although a medical exam rendered no evidence. She set up a support group in prison during her 6-year sentence.

After learning of the trial and Shepard’s lengthy fraud record — all of which had not been divulged before she married his father — Mr. Friedrich travelled to Prince Edward Island to speak with Mr. Stewart’s sister. He has also visited with Alex Strategos, whom Shepard was convicted of “elderly exploitation” against in 2005.

“We’ve kind of got a Melissa victim support network,” Mr. Friedrich said, adding that he’s pursued the cases so diligently because “what happened to my dad should not have happened. I can’t change that but I have always been convinced that she’s a person without conscience.”

‘I have always been convinced that she’s a person without conscience’

Mr. Friedrich and his family urged their father — who had fallen into ill health and was frequently hospitalized — to cut contact with Shepard, who they suspected was drugging him. The family went as far as hiring a private investigator and lodging a complaint with the Elder Abuse Line in Florida. Neither party found any incriminating evidence.

The father refused to leave his wife. The 84-year-old man died of a reported cardiac arrest, following two years of marriage with Shepard. His body was cremated without any reports on the status of the body. No charges were laid in the death.

Shepard was originally arraigned on a charge of attempted murder of Mr. Weeks, but the charges were reduced.

“Attempted murder is one of the hardest charges in the criminal code to prove,” Diane McGrath, the crown attorney in the case, said Tuesday. “We would have to show that at the time that she gave [Fred Weeks] the drug, there was intent to kill him.”

Shepard’s criminal record, including the 1992 manslaughter case, was mentioned during the sentencing, but Ms. McGrath said it would not have been useful in a attempted murder trial, since the cases do not demonstrate a “signature.”

“We didn’t have that striking similarity,” Ms. McGrath said. “If you stop and look at her history and her pattern, she is preying on old men for financial gain.”

Ms. McGrath’s request that Shepard be sentenced the maximum jail time allotted for the two charges was granted on Tuesday. The maximum, three and a half years, will be reduced to two years and nine months to account for Shepard’s time served while awaiting trial.

“I’m glad she is incarcerated,” said Mr. Friedrich. “[But] I’m disappointed that it’s not for a longer. If she is released, they should watch her like a hawk.”